Presidential candidates urged to revamp cotton industry if elected

Nyankpala (NR), Dec. 19, GNA - Cotton farmers in the three Northern regions have appealed to the two Presidential Candidates in the December 28 run-off to come out with their individual programmes to revamp the cotton industry. Mr. Patrick Adintinga Apullah, National Vice Chairman of the Cotton Farmers' Association of Ghana told the GNA in an interview at Nyankpala that the cotton industry had been dormant for the past three years due to the cotton companies' inability to sponsor farmers to go into production.

Mr. Apullah said most cotton companies had closed down because there was no financial support from either the government or donors, aw well as the banks to enable them to survive. "Cotton farmers want the Presidential candidates, Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP and Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the NDC to publicly commit themselves by unveiling their plans for the cotton industry so that all cotton farmers would make informed choices as to which party to vote for," he emphasised.

Mr Apullah said the campaign messages of the Presidential Candidates should include measures to help sheanut farmers and processors to revamp the shea industry in the North. He noted that successive governments had only paid lip-service to the shea industry and called on the Presidential Candidates to outline concrete measures to resuscitate the cotton and the shea industries in the North. 19 Dec. 08